Eintracht Frankfurt took full advantage of a blistering start to their UEFA Europa League semi-final against West Ham to leave London with a 2-1 advantage ahead of next week's second leg, with Ansgar Knauff and Daichi Kamada on target for the visitors.

West Ham United 1-2 Eintracht Frankfurt 
Goals: 0-1 Knauff 1' (assist: Borre), 1-1 Antonio 21' (assist: Zouma), 1-2 Kamada

With a place in the Seville showpiece up for grabs, the London Stadium was rocking ahead of kick-off as the teams met for the first time since the 1975/76 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final. The game was barely a minute old when Eintracht burst the hosts' bubbles with a superbly worked goal. Working his team forward, Kamada picked out Rafael Borre inside the area. The Colombian eyed his options before curling a superb pass over the top of the West Ham defence and towards the far post, where Knauff arrived to head past a stunned Alphonse Areola. The Eagles remained largely in command until the hosts sprang into life on the quarter-hour, Jarrod Bowen running through the centre before sending a low shot against the foot of the post. The move warned of what was to come and the Hammers were level after a Manuel Lanzini free kick was met by Kurt Zouma's header across the goal where Michail Antonio diverted past the despairing dive of Kevin Trapp, who got a hand on the ball.

Eintracht ousted Real Betis and then Barcelona in the tournament's knockout stages and travelled to the English capital in confident mood. That morale was on display when Oliver Glasner's men retook the lead with a fantastically worked goal. Jesper Lindström and Djibril Sow played a slick one-two which unlocked the West Ham defence and after Sow's shot was pushed out by Areola, Kamada was there to stroke home. It could have been even better for the Japanese player and the Bundesliga side later in the half, with the 25-year-old seeing his shot from inside the area clip Craig Dawson before coming back off the post. Bowen then struck the crossbar with a superb overhead kick as West Ham almost nicked a draw. As it is, the 1980 UEFA Cup winners will take a one-goal cushion back to Deutsche Bank Park for next Thursday's second leg.

Match stats

• Knauff's opener after 49 seconds is Eintracht's fastest-ever Europa League goal.
• The Frankfurt attacker scored his second of this season's tournament, following his goal against Barcelona in the quarter-final, first leg.
• Kamada can now boast 11 Europa League goals in total, while he is Frankfurt's top scorer in the competition this season with five.
• Frankfurt reached the semi-finals in 2018/19, losing on penalties to eventual winners Chelsea. They have reached the knockout stage in all four of their participations in the Europa League in its current format.
• The Eagles are the only team in the last four to have won this competition before, when it was still known as the UEFA Cup. In 1979/80, they beat fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Mönchengladbach – the holders – on away goals.

Line-ups

West Ham: Areola - Johnson, Dawson, Zouma, Cresswell - Soucek, Rice (c), Fornals - Bowen, Antonio, Lanzini (Benrahma 66')
Unused subs: Fabianski, Randolph, Coufal, Yarmolenko, Vlasic, Noble, Fredericks, Masuaku, Kral, Alese, Chesters
Out: Diop (ankle), Ogbonna (knee)
Coach: David Moyes

Frankfurt: Trapp - Tuta, Hinteregger, Toure - Knauff, Sow, Rode (c), Kostic - Lindstrom (Hauge 62'), Kamada - Borre (Ache 90'+3)
Unused subs: Grahl, Hora, Hrustic, Lammers, Hasebe, Chandler, Da Costa, Lenz, Barkok, Paciencia
Out: Durm (ineligible), Ilsanker (ineligible), Jakic (suspended), Ndicka (suspended), Ramaj (knee)
Coach: Oliver Glasner

As it happened!

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